I have just recently installed LMDE after using Ubuntu 11.04 on which the SD card reader worked ok. I have read several threads in the forums about similar issues and so have tried the suggestions as follows but none of the threads I have found go beyond this.

If I do "lsusb" I get a list with the following at the bottom.Bus 006 Device 002: ID 17ef:1003 Lenovo Integrated Smart Card Reader

If I remove the card and do "sudo tail -f /var/log/messages" then plug the card in I get

You're having exactly the same cardreader as I (but at me the Lenovo lsusb device is missing - my laptop is HP).

Support for 'MS' cards for this reader has been introduced in the 2.6.39 kernel, but support for SD cards has been there for years and is, at me, working fine on the 2.6.3x kernels. Make sure the sdhci-pci driver is loaded for the R5C822 chip:

It's strange that this has all worked fine in Ubuntu and Linux Mint for years but Debian has a problem with it. I like the speed I get with LMDE on this older laptop though so it is worth working through these issues. I have also come across another issue with the Samba Client not working very well but that is an issue for another time. Anyway...